"Really, I try to help you and you brush me off?" Pepper-Man muttered, eyebrows creased. Dave smiled and shrugged.
While the two continued their routine, the rest of the pirates scrambled around the ship, pulling up the sails and tying things down with lengths of rope. A sudden wind had picked up, and so it was with a frantic air they did their duties. One had to wonder why no one noticed Pepper-Man and Dave's conversation and their lack of work.
"Oh. Well," Pepper-Man commented as a raindrop splattered onto his head. "this can't be good."
As Dave prepared a witty reply, a wad of dark clouds closed in on the ship, in typical Grand Line fashion. The waves swelled, and sheets of freezing rain battered the crew.
It really was quite sudden. Almost as sudden as one of Kidd's mood swings.
Whatever possessed the weather to screw with them was beyond the crew, however, and they ran to shelter. Everyone but the newest addition, of course.
For the threads of fate had already woven around him, and practically pulled the captain into its web.
"What the hell?" Kidd snarled. He stood in the doorway to the captain's quarters, already soaked through. "When the hell did this happen?"
Dave's gaze moved slowly towards the captain. "Just a few seconds ago, actually." He didn't bother moving from his spot on deck. He would rather be washed off the ship then stay there.
"Just a few-" His anger was apparently too much for words, so he cut himself off, spluttering. Leather boots stomped on the deck as he made his way over to the marine, girly red lips pulled back in a snarl. "And no one told me?" An accusing finger jabbed itself into Dave's chest, and Kidd leaned in uncomfortably close.
Dave thought this was much worse than numerous metal pointy things aimed at his important bits. Spit from a pirate's mouth was not meant to fly into someone's face; the smell of his breath alone almost made him nauseous.
"No, it happened a few seconds ago. Captain." Dave's placating, please-don't-hurt-me smile apparently set Kidd off.
"Quit being a smart-ass!" Kidd pulled various metals from the ship's rails and circled them around Dave.
It was at that moment that he remembered a certain rumor: Kidd had killed people for just looking at him funny. It was also at that moment that Dave decided to jump ship.
He ran to the railing and pulled his leg up, arms ready to push off.
Dave may have been successful, if it hadn't been for one factor. Kidd's temper could only be calmed by Killer, who was no doubt doing various important things inside of the ship. And so, like a vampiric bull that was far too obsessed with heavy metal, he rammed into Dave and knocked them both off the railing, straight into a small wooden boat. The momentum sent the boat into the water, the ropes holding it up snapping and left flailing in the wind. The waves set to work breaking it, but the boat held strong.
Its occupants, however, didn't. One last, giant wave sent the two dazed men's heads onto the wood, knocking them out cold.
The storm quickly dispersed, its task complete.
The next chapter'll be up tomorrow! I quite like these short ones. :) I would have written more…but this was a perfect place to end! I hope this counts as a start to a plot. This would be the inciting event, no?
Sneak Peak:
Blackmail was a wonderful thing, if morally ambiguous.